Togolese chops off girlfriend's fingers

Aflao (V/R), Dec. 6, GNA - A Togolese man who reportedly chopped off the right ear and two right fingers of his Ghanaian girl friend on suspicions of being jilted was arraigned before an Aflao Circuit Court on a provisional charge of attempted murder.

The plea of Kwame Agbeko, a tailor, who went into hiding in Ho after the alleged act, was not taken and he was remanded in prison custody to reappear before the court on January 15, 2007. Police Chief Inspector Joseph Kennedy Acquah of Dzodze told the court, presided over by Group Captain Martin Oben-Ntim (Rtd) that the victim, Diana Keme, a seamstress apprentice, stayed with the accused and her parents at Dzodze intermittently for three years. He said on September 16, this year, Agbeko granted permission to Diana to visit her relations in a Togolese village but ordered her not to stay overnight with the suspicion that the woman might be cheating on him.

Inspector Acquah said on her return the following day, the woman went to sleep in Agbeko's room.

He said Agbeko got angry when he met Diana and that about 0200 hours, he attempted to strangle her but Diana freed herself and that still raging with anger, he allegedly reached for a cutlass and inflicted injuries on the woman, severing her two fingers and the right ear.

Agbeko was arrested at a hide out in Ho following a tip-off, Inspector Acquah told the court.

There were jeers at the court when Diana appeared with several cutlass wounds on her body, with the audience shouting: "give him 50 years (jail term)". GNA